Deepest Darkness

Read Session 2

After dispatching of the goblin raiders, the caravan moved onward north toward the boundary of Varisian and the Lands of Linnorm Kings. The group moved into the frozen mountain region only to be beset by a pack of hungry wolves led by an evil winter wolf.

They group fought bravely and with the help of Peddywinkle’s bomb and magic spells they destroyed the winter wolf. (Kreecha helped too)

From there they traveled to the border town called Whiterook. This was not the boarder of Varisian and Linnorm, but rather Linnorm and Irresin.

There Peddywinkle advised the group as they stoped at the Wolf’s Pelt Inn, that he had arranged rooms for them inside and that he needed to attend to other business. (Selling of his merchant items)

Once they had settled in Peddywinkle returned and advised them that he had had a good business arrangement and that the group was finished with its prior business arrangement and he paid them the promised half of their gold. In addition he told of his true purpose in the cold northern lands.

He had ventured this far to try to find the lost tower of Damius Morianis. A famous alchemist/wizard who had built his tower in the frozen wastelands in hopes of privacy to finish his soon to be miracle healing salve that could halt ageing, cure any wound and disease. It was Peddywinkle’s hopes that with his finding of a lost page from Damius’ diary that he could find the tower and the missing pages of the diary to complete the salve for the world.

He wished again to call upon the services of the party to help him and his feline-like apprentice, Veatrix a tattooed spellcaster with feline features, to find the tower. Veatrix had been in the local town for some time now as Peddywinkle’s scribe and front, trying to gather more information about the legacy and myths surrounding Damius.

She had found that a local craftsman, a halfling carver named Regis had the most promising of news. He knew of an ancient barbarian who lived out in the tundra and perhaps knew information about the lost tower.

The group made their way to meet with the halfling and he told them as much as he could and that they would need a guide to journey to meet the barbarian. They then took Regis’s directions to a lone tree nearby and waited the mysterious guide.

As they waited they were attacked in the night by what some had referred to in myths as the Frostman, a blue humanoid that appeared to be truly from the plane of Ice.

As the Frostman blew an icy breath and then ate his victims the group fought for their very lives as the powerful brute cut through them. It was bleak, but springing up from the snow was their guide. He leaped in with his swords dancing a deadly dance against the Frostman. The guide cut the Frostman down and saved the group from certain death.

The guide introduced himself as Drizzt, a drow from the Darklands below. He knew of the barbarian and would guide them across Irresin’s dangerous lands into the frozen fog.

They eventually found the barbarian, who spoke his own language, but Drizzt interrupted for them and finally Drizzt conveyed that the man had indeed seen a tower a century before. One near Glacier Lake. And that it had sank during a period called the Great Thaw. Only to have the ground freeze again with the brief return of Irresin’s witch queen, Baba Yaga.

Drizzt led them to the spot and had to depart, but promised to return and guide them back if needed.

The group searched and found a spot that had been thought a druid circle of stones, but they surmised were the crenellations of the top of the sunken tower. They dug down to indeed find the towers roof.

The roof collapsed and the recovered inside the tower. Searching the tower they found oddities such as a mini flesh golem that tried to pummel them all. The little golem was very tough and empowered with magic of a large flesh golem, but much weaker. It had none of the normal resistances to magic, but was magically empowered with strength beyond its small size.
It took the group many moments of desperate fighting to finally dispatch the odd creature.

Once the group had recovered and gathered their nerve once again they began to investigate the towers depths.

They eventually found a corridor and at the end of the hallway stood an old suit of platemail armor. They slowly approached and found a set of eyes spring open and the suit came crashing at them. They hacked at it and found that a zombie now resided inside the armor. They hacked the zombie into oblivion and eventually found a library of books and what must have been Damien’s treasure trove.

Later they found a room with a unique skeleton that had heard the alarm and waited for them to approach, thinking them only but grave robbers. He had been the captain of the guard somehow cursed to undeath in the sunken tower. They fought and eventually destroyed the skeleton.

Here they gave pause to collect their wits and discuss what might be going on in this cursed place and how could all these lifeless things be rising from the grave and who or what created the strange mini-flesh golems?

These questions would have to wait until more of this sunkand tower could be explored.